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| Deafness in many species (including humans) has been associated with patches of hair without pigment. White Dalmatians and blue-eyed, white cats are often born deaf, and blaze, white and panda ferrets are as well. In many cases, the ear develops normally as the fetus grows in the uterus, but before birth the tiny hairs in the ears, called cilia that detect sound vibrations fall out. Without these hairs to sense sound vibrations, the animal will be completely and permanently deaf.
While efforts should be made to avoid breeding lines of animals that are predisposed to deafness, they can still make wonderful pets. While these ferrets can never learn to come to a whistle, and they tend to be rather easy to sneak up on, their handicap is barely noticeable. They are more visual than other ferrets and spend more time scanning a room with their heads held high like a periscope. Another difference is that they are unable to hear the vocalizations of other ferrets, and cannot hear their own. This means that they are slower to pick up on warning or angry signs of other ferrets (hissing or angry squawks), and when involved in a scuffle the deaf ferret might be exceptionally loud in her own vocalization. Take extra care not to startle your deaf ferret by scooping her up without her knowing you are in the room. Some people have trained all of their ferrets, hearing or otherwise to run to the doorway when the ceiling light is flicked on and off, and my deaf ferret Fig has been clicker-trained with a little flashlight to roll over to a hand signal. There is no reason to think that a deaf ferret will be any less of a pet. They just take a little more creativity when thinking how to train them. |
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